* 0% is how much of Alabama’s pasture and range land was in very poor condition as of today. Only 6% was in poor condition. That is quite a turn-around from last year at this time.
* 60 percent of pasture/range land was in good condition.
* 5% of Alabama’s livestock was in poor condition. Much improvement over last year.
* 62% of the livestock in good condition!
* 0% of the winter wheat crop was in poor or very poor condition
* 62% was in good condition and 28% excellent!
* 75% of the state had adequate top soil moisture and only 20% short. As a result, overall Alabama’s corn crop was in good to excellent condition. Also the progress in soybean planting was ahead of last year at this time as well as ahead of the five-year average.
* 7.10 inches was the rain deficit at Muscle Shoals as of today. 6.70 was the deficit at Huntsville.
* 9.03 inches was the deficit at Gadsden Airport. This is the largest deficit of 34 stations that the USDA/Alabama Field Office compiles each week. The deficit is more than five inches at Russellville, Belle Mina, Thorsby, and Dothan. At Union Springs, in SE Alabama, the shortfall was 6.87 inches.
* 1.60 inches was the SURPLUS at Geneva in South Alabama. Several stations showed a surplus.
* 3.67 inches was the biggest surplus at Mobile Regional Airport.
* 88 is how many severe weather warnings have been issued around the USA since midnight. This includes Severe Thunderstorm, Tornado and Flash Flood warnings. The one Tornado Warning was issued by the NWS/Albuquerque
* 26 days until the official start of Hurricane Season. The first named storm in the Atlantic Basin will be Arthur. The Atlantic Basin includes the Caribbean and our dear friend, the Gulf of Mexico. We are all wondering what kind of season we will have. Will there be another disaster along the Gulf Coast? Along the Atlantic Seaboard? We don’t know, for sure, of course. It is a game of watch and wait.
* 45.6 feet was the stage of the MMR (Mighty Mississippi River) at Vicksburg today. Flood stage is 43 feet but the big river is in a falling stage. It has been above flood stage at Vicksburg and numerous places along its long path for a long time.
* 76 below zero was the coldest temperatures I could find around the world late this afternoon, Alabama time. That was at Vostok, Antarctica where it is now autumn and headed toward winter.
* 0 was the snow depth at Green Bay, Wisc., after getting 87 inches this season. The average annual snow amount for Green Bay is 53 inches.
* 37.07 inches is the average annual precipitation at both Portland, Ore., and Seattle. There is a misconception that it rains almost all the time on the Pacific NW Coast. However, Birmingham receives 54 inches annually (average) which is almost 17 inches more than those two cities.
* 44.77 is the average yearly rain amount for Tampa which is 9.23 less than Birmingham. So being on a coast does not always mean a wetter city.
* 0 is still how many bottles of bottled water that I have bought in my lifetime.
* 0 is how many computer games I have, or have played.
Maybe I am a “stick-in-the-mud” but life goes on.
